A local
activist (Santa Cruz, CA) is being charged with a hate crime for destroying
a statue of Christopher Columbus at San Jose city hall. Please take
a few minutes to read the rest of this email and then let the Santa
Clara District Attorney know what you think and how you feel. Please
excuse the length and formatting. Your brother in the struggle, Guarionex.

San
Jose, Ca. Wielding a sledgehammer, justice activist James Cosner smashed
a life-size statue of Christopher Columbus in front of dozens of witnesses
at City Hall in San Jose, California on Thursday, March 8th. As the
seven-types of marble chips flew from the blows, Cosner shouted "Genocide!"
"This man rode our backs!" "This man murdered us!"

Most
Americans do not know the murderous history of Christopher Columbus.
Examining primary historical sources by Bartolome de las Casas, the
biographer of Columbus son, Columbus made four voyages to the New World.
He encountered the Arawaks, who occupied Haiti. An early census of the
Arawak was 1.1 million, not counting children. According to a conservative
estimate over 3 million Arawak lived on Haiti in pre-Columbian times.
Columbus kidnapped , enslaved, and murdered the Arawak people. He ruled
with severe discipline ordering the cutting off of ears or nose as punishment
for minor crimes.

When the Arawaks
fought back, Columbus used the excuse to wage war. On March 24th, 1495
Columbus set out to conquer the Arawaks. With 20 hunting dogs, horses,
and guns Columbus set upon the Arawaks, tearing them up with dogs and
mowing them down with volleys of bullets, and running them over with
horses. Reporting back to Queen Isabel of Spain, Columbus boasted "In
the name of the holy trinity, we can send from here all the slaves that
Brazil will hold." The Spaniards hunted Indians for sport and murdered
them for dog food.

Seeking gold, he
enslaved the remaining Arawaks to work the mines. Those who refused
had their hands cut off. Conditions for the Arawak become so intolerable
that as many as 100 at a time would commit suicide. Women were known
to kill their newborn babies, rather than have them raised in such hideous
circumstances. Columbus would reward his officers with women to rape.
Girls 10 to 12 were especially desired for rape.

When Columbus son
took over in 1505, he continued the slaughter. Only some 12,000 remained
by 1516. By 1555 not a single Arawak remained. Haiti remains one of
the primary instances of genocide in human history to be followed by
more instances of genocide in Puerto Rico and Cuba. The presence of
the statue prominently placed in City Hall in San Jose has been reviled
by native Americans as a sick reminder of the ruthless slaughter and
conquest of indigenous people in the New World.

Having smuggled
the sledgehammer into City Hall, Cosner struck the marble statue breaking
off the arm, both legs, and cracking pits into the face. He cracked
off the top of the scroll held by Columbus, so that the torso only remained
standing by the flowing waves of the marble cape, which was still connected
to the pedestal.

One passerby, Jaime
Nava approached Cosner and tried to talk him into stopping. As Nava
tried to calm Cosner, plainclothes officer Chris Galios, Mayor Ron Gonzales'
bodyguard, arrived and tried to persuade Cosner to stop. But it was
only when three uniformed officers came through the front door with
their guns drawn that Cosner ceased.

Nava used his body
to shield Cosner, who had backed against a wall. Officers then handcuffed
Cosner, who told them: ``I'm not fighting. I'm very calm. I'm very calm.''
San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzalez vowed to restore the statue, which will
then be moved in front of the new City Hall when it opens downtown.

Cosner, a native
American who has been active in protests against the injustice committed
against the homeless in Santa Cruz under the Sleeping Ban, in the struggle
to free Mumia Abu Jamal, and against the bombing in Yugoslavia. In 1996,
he was one of six people who locked down at City Hall to protest the
anti-homeless Sleeping Ban in Santa Cruz. In 1999 he was arrested in
Rep. Sam Farr s office to protest the civilian bombing of Yugoslavia.

He was arrested
at another protest on May 22nd in front of the McPherson Center where
a Democratic Party fundraiser was held, supporting ex-President Clinton
s "Bomb Belgrade" campaign. He, along with Steve Argue, became
one of the Santa Cruz 5, arrested for resisting a police disruption
of a legitimate political protest. Later in 1999, he attended the protests
in Seattle against the WTO. Cosner remains in the Santa Clara County
Jail, booked on suspicion of vandalism, making terrorist threats and
destruction of a civic monument. His bail, originally set at $4,000
hasbeen raised to $50,000.

As of Monday 3:30
PM, a female deputy at the jail who identified herself only as #132
refused to answer why the bail cost was raised, what the current bail
was, and what the current charges were. She did state that Cosner was
being arraigned and that his files would return by 2 a.m. Tuesday. She
acknowledged that she did have current information on the computer,
but declined to release that information. Informed sources confirmed
later that Cosner was taken to court on Monday afternoon, not charged,
and scheduled for arraignment on Thursday afternoon (1-5 PM).

Sources for historical
information on Columbus s genocidal policies: History of the Indies
by Bartolome de las Casas translated by Andree M. Collard [1971]; Select
Letters of Christopher Columbus translated and edited by R. H. Major
[1847]; A People s History of the United States by Howard Zinn [1980];
The Log of Christopher Columbus s First Voyage to America in the Year
1492, as copied out in brief by las Casas [1989]; all from Lies My Teacher
Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong by James
W. Loewen [1995]

Sources for the
Cosner information: San Jose Mercury News 3-9 & 3-10 Story by Becky
Johnson
For more information: (831)423-HUFF or Email wmnofstl@cruzio.com
From: Jim Vivian reality7@earthlink.net
for Information on James Cosner call 831-792-2873

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